


The World We Still See

by Sakinthra



Series: Sharingang Writing Club Requests [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Konan wins the fight with Obito, M/M, More implied KisaObi than explicit, Sort of hurt/comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25130875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakinthra/pseuds/Sakinthra
Summary: An AU where Konan wins her fight with Obito, but Obito survives after Kisame drags him out from the river depths. A short fic request with some implied Kisame/Obito and a promise of things to come.This fic was a request by the winner of the June 2020 Sharingang Writing Club event.
Relationships: Hoshigaki Kisame/Uchiha Obito
Series: Sharingang Writing Club Requests [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820398
Comments: 3
Kudos: 40





	The World We Still See

_“No flower will bloom in a world without light.”_

-

The explosion was loud enough to drown out sound completely, a ringing, hollow quiet that was so piercing it overtook the rest of Obito’s senses completely. It was a blessing; there was no doubt in his mind that he would be in agony if the noise hadn’t consumed him. Anyone else would have already perished. The woman had already taken one of his limbs in her initial assault, but now the Hashirama cells were barely withstanding the barrage of the force of _six hundred billion paper bombs_.

_Who even has the time to_ **_do_ ** _that?_

Obito sees the flash of her golden eyes looking down upon him, meeting his own even despite the common sense knowledge to never look a Sharingan wielder in the eye. She doesn’t need to worry. Even if he caught her in a genjutsu now, it would only last so long as he did under the oncoming blasts and the descending waves of the Amegakure river. 

-

_“I won’t let you taint their dream with your false ambitions.”_

-

The water folds over him, encroaching darkness that creeps in from the side of his vision until there’s nothing but a pinpoint of light where Konan once stood.

Obito is reminded of the cave, of waiting for the earth to devour him. It’s ironic, the past repeating itself in such a strange manner. Earth, water, will the sky consume him next? Will he survive this time, spat back out into the world as yet another different man? If he cannot reclaim the Rinnegan, if he cannot defeat one woman…

_If he cannot even save one teammate…_

Maybe this time he’ll let the darkness claim him.

-

He awakes on a shore, water lapping at the grassy shoreline nearby. Where there was once rain, Obito can see only sunlight streaming through grey clouds, an occasional droplet landing on the sore skin of his left hand. 

He _aches_ , aches in a way he’s only ached once before. He’s still not entirely convinced he’s alive after the trap Konan laid for him, but the aching isn’t harrowing enough to suggest hell and he isn’t comfortable enough to be persuaded that he somehow landed somewhere better than that. Even more annoyingly, he is blind in his left eye. Izanagi had succeeded in mitigating some of the damage of the explosives, but the technique only ever put you right back where you’d first used it; in Obito's case, right back at the bottom of the Amegakure river. 

He’d been prepared to sacrifice the eye, of course. Assuming he retrieved the Rinnegan from Nagato’s corpse, the eye would have been replaced anyway. Now, though?

No Rinnegan. Barely a body, assuming the Hashirama cells were able to replace what he had lost. Akatsuki, turned against him. There was Sasuke, of course, but the boy was still such a wild card at this point, he hadn’t even _spoken_ of the plan to him yet…

“Finally awake, ah?”

Obito blinks. The voice is familiar, so familiar that it almost hurts to _hope_ that’s who he thinks it is. He wills himself to turn his head until he catches sight of blue-toned muscle and a sharp, teasing grin.

He can’t help himself. A little of the ‘old him’ slips out before he can stop the words.

“I always got jealous when I saw you swimming around so easily, so I thought I’d give it a try.” 

Kisame snorts, and Obito can even see the sentient Samehada bristle with what could probably be construed as laughter. Obito lets himself grin. 

Maybe Konan had won the battle, but she’d failed to win the war. Obito was alive, and _he_ had come to his rescue. 

It counted for something. Obito just wasn’t sure what that something was yet.

-

The Hashirama cells worked wonders, but it would take another day before his arm would fully reform and his skin would stop aching from the burn of the explosions.

Kisame is a patient man, Obito knows this now, and stubbornly loyal. He’d seen it as Kisame had nursed the dying Itachi, despite the man’s insistence that it was unnecessary, and he sees it now in the careful dressing of his wounds, done even as Obito slips in and out of consciousness. 

He is reminded of Rin, bringing forth healing salves whenever he burned his mouth with fire jutsu and bandages for his cuts when he’d been too clumsy with a kunai. It was strange to find parallels in two beings who couldn’t have possibly looked more different, but Obito had long accepted that the world he existed in was strange and impossibly cruel in its irony. 

“The world I told you about,” Obito speaks, his eye tracing the patterns of wood on the ceiling of the shack Kisame had dragged him into. “I’m starting to wonder if I can still make it happen.”

“Doubt? From Madara Uchiha?”

Obito laughs. “What if I told you that name was just a title?”

“I’d ask why you ever thought I believed you were truly Madara Uchiha to begin with, after showing me your face.” 

“I suppose I do look a little young for the part.” 

The shack is quiet and peaceful, a small out of the way home on the Ame riverbank. It likely belongs to someone, but Obito is certain Kisame can bare his teeth and scare off any civilian that dares come close. It’s strange, but despite his wounds, he’s at _ease_. 

-

“Obito.” He eventually tells him. “My name is Obito Uchiha.” 

-

“The Kage have called up a council. They believe Sasuke Uchiha is responsible for the murder of the Gyubi Jinchuuriki, in Akatsuki’s name.”

Obito flexes his newly grown hand, revelling in being able to feel his fingertips again. The news surprises him; he hasn’t been able to check in with Sasuke since his battle with Konan, but he’ll believe that the boy was capable of taking on a Jinchuuriki and surviving. That was why he had entrusted him with the cloak, after all.

“In the advent of Pein’s attack and Tsunade’s recovery, Danzo Shimura has been named acting Hokage.”

That is less surprising. That man was a master at weaseling his way into borrowed power. And if Danzo was there, _all_ the Kage in one spot, Sasuke would no doubt hear of it and go to them in his quest to avenge his brother. 

“We could go.” Kisame puts forward. “Show them Akatsuki is still here. Still strong.”

“Is it, still?” Obito asks in turn. “Do I need to remind you of the six hundred _billion_ paper bombs that I only just managed to survive?”

“You survived it.”

“The Rinnegan was supposed to be unstoppable. _Pein_ was supposed to be unstoppable. _We_ were supposed to be unstoppable but it just isn’t _enough_!” 

His new hand has cracked the wood of his chair, splinters piercing the newly grown skin. Obito feels a pain in his chest that he hasn’t felt since the night _Rin died_. 

“You want the truth, Kisame?” He asks, nearly whispering. “I’m not strong enough for any of this.” 

His remaining eye burns, and he’s not sure if it’s tears or blood from his Mangekyo spinning in time with his grief. 

An impossibly long second passes before he feels a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hmm.” Kisame hums to himself. “What is with you Uchiha and your unshakeable nihilism? If you were strong enough to do it on your own, you would have. If I’d been strong enough to make the world you spoke of, I would have. I don’t think anyone would really believe Madara Uchiha was going to face the entire shinobi world alone and change it.”

“Madara did.”

“And where is he now?”

“Dead.” Obito answers with a small smile. “Only a name, the one I carry for him.” 

“Well, in my honest opinion, I don’t think a fool’s name is worth carrying.” 

-

Shinobi aren’t _supposed_ to fight alone. That was the message he’d _died_ to show Kakashi. The message he’d die again making sure the world understood.

War, death, betrayal...Obito had told Kisame that he intended to build a world of truth and he’d _meant_ it. A peaceful world where no one had to worry about bloodshed or deceit. A world where Rin could have lived without being forced to become a teenage _bomb_ by those who didn’t see shinobi as people, but as _tools_.

There is no more Akatsuki now; Konan has made sure of that. Zetsu has slithered away, though Obito is sure he can find him if he _really_ looked, and Sasuke Uchiha has been arrested for the murder of Danzo Shimura at the Five Kage Summit. Obito had planned to make a statement to the world before the Rinnegan had been lost to him, about a new war to be waged against the world, the Eye of the Moon plan brought to fruition as he used Madara’s gifted power to wrench the Bijuu from their Jinchuuriki’s husks…

“We could still do it.” Obito thinks, going through the plan in his head. “Konan hid Nagato’s corpse, so if we can find it, the plan can continue.” 

“So is that the plan?”

“Maybe.” Obito shrugs. “I’m not really eager to try pushing Konan’s wrath again. But the world still needs changing.”

Kisame nods. “No more resting for us, I suppose. If not the Rinnegan, there will be another way.” 

“You’re with me, still?”

Kisame looks him in the eye and for a moment Obito knows _exactly_ what the man is thinking. They could let it go, here and now, fade into the background as two old shadows of power and live their lives out in this hollow world, letting go of the burden of their desires. Keep this state of false peace that they’ve built between them and live out this lie of a world.

But Kisame just grins, and Obito knows they both aren’t prepared to give up anything.

“To the end.” Kisame tells him.

“To the end.” Obito agrees.


End file.
